Stroke-regulator.



' No. 67|,oo7.' PatentedAp'r. 2, 190|.

n. H. YALE.

smuma nEauLAron. (Application filed Septj?, 1900.)

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siren RODNEY H. YALE, OE BEATRICE, NEBRASKA.

STROKE-REG U LATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 671,007, dated April 2,1901.

Application led September 7, 1900. Serial No. 29,313. (No model.)

T0. all whom, it may cow/cern:

Be it known that I, RODNEY H. YALE, a citivzen of the United States,residing at Beatrice, in the county of Gage and State of Nebraska, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Stroke-Regulators; and Ihereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and 'exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in stroke-regulators forautomatically adjusting or determining the length of stroke of areciprocating pistou-rod, pump-rod, or other similar device used inconnection with a windmill or other variable source of power, the objectbeing to provide for effecting a stroke of such reciprocating rod ofmoderate length when the prime mover is running at a low rate of speedand to increase the length of the stroke proportionately as the motorattainsa higher rate of speed, so that the length of the stroke or throwof the rod will at all times correspond with the power available toproduce it.

My device is especially'adapted to use in connection with wind-Wheels,as such motors are subject to frequent variations in the force of thedriving agency, but is not necessarily limited to such use.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the device as applied to awindmill, Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in vertical section, of aportion of a windmill-tower and the windwheel thereon, also showing oneof my strokeregulators in vertical section and in working position. Fig;2 is an enlarged view, in vertical section, of the regulator detached,with portions of the divided reciprocating pumprod attached thereto.Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

The frame l carries the wheel 2, with its appendages, mounted thereon inany preferred manner, the axis 3 of said wheel being provided with theusual crank-plate 4, to which is connected the upper or power section 5of the divided reciprocating rod for operating the pump 6. The lower orWorking section 7 of the rodoperates the pump 6 in the usual manner.Between the two sections 5 7 of said rod, the division of which may belnade at any preferred point, is interposed the stroke-regulator, whichconsists of a closed metallic casing 8, made up of separable parts,which may be secured togetherin any preferred manner, all joints beingmade watertight. Said casing S contains three chambers, all preferablyof substantially cylindrical form and disposed in the same verticalplanetowit, a central piston-chamber 9, an upper 4reliefchamber 10, andalower relief-chamber 11. The piston-chamber 9 is separated from therelief-chamber 11 by a partition 12, but communicates with said cham berl1 at the bottom by a free passage 13 and also communicates with chamber10 by a passage le. Near the bottom of chamber 10, between it and thepassage 14, is secured a preferably conical collar or fiange 15, havingat its apex or center an opening 16 of considerably less diameter thanchamber 9 or 10,. The piston-chamber 9 is provided at its top and bottomwith inwardly-projecting flanges 17 1S, which form stops to limit themovement in either direction of the piston 19. cured to a piston-rod20,which passes through a stuffing-box 21 in the upper wall of thecasing 8 and is secured to the lower end of the` upper section 5 of thepump-rod. The lower section 7 of said pu mp-rod is rigidlysecured at itsupper end to the bottom of casing 8 in alinement with the upper section5.

When in use, the casing is kept partially iilled with liquid, whichextends up to about the normal level of the line fr x in Fig. 2, thusnormally entirely filling piston-chamber 9, nearly filling chamber 11,and extending into the bottom of chamber 10Q Said liquid may be water,oil, or other preferred liquid, and to permit free movement of the sameinto or out of chambers l0 11 air-vents 22 are provided near the upperends of said chambers and also shields 23, extending from the innerwalls of said chambers, near said vents, to deflect the liquid therefromand prevent its being thrown out by'any sudden movement.

. A counterweight24 is connected to the casing bya chain 25, whichpasses over a pulley 26 on the frame and sustains the weight of thecasing, but permits it to move freely either upward or downward.

To illustrate the operation of the device, it may be supposed that theupper section 5 of Said piston 19 is se- IOO 'the rod is at the lowerlimit of its stroke, as

shown in the drawings. If it then begins to move upward, the piston 19will press against the liquid in piston-chamber 9, and some of saidliquid, owing to such pressure, will immediately begin to liow throughthe contracted passage-way 16 into chamber 10, and such flow willcontinue, in greater or less quantity, during the upward stroke of thepiston. While such stroke continues the piston will bear against thebody of liquid remaining in chamber 9, and whenever the pressure is sogreat that the liquid cannot pass into chamber 10 fast enough to relieveit the casing 8, and therefore the lower section 7 of the pump-rod, willbe lifted and carried up until the piston and the upper section 5 arriveat their highest points. While said movement is taking place the liquidin chamber 11 will pass through passage 13 into piston-chamber 9 andfill up the space therein vacated by the upward movement of piston 19.Vhen section 5 of the rod begins its return movement downward, piston 19will first press the liquid below it back into chamber 11 until saidpiston reaches its seat at lower stop 1S, after which said piston willpress against stop 18 and carry the casing and the lower section 7 ofthe rod against the stress of the counterweight 24 down to theiroriginal position. At the same time the liquid which has been forcedinto chamber 10, as heretofore described, will be drawn downward throughthe opening 16 until it again occupies the level of the line a: It willnow be seen that the range of movement of the piston 19 within itschamber and relatively to the casing S will depend upon the timeoccupied in the upward movement of rod 5, or, in other words, on therate of speed of said rod. If said rod moves slowly at the beginning ofand during its upward stroke, a considerable portion of the liquid abovethe piston will be forced into chamber 10 before the upper limit of thestroke has been reached and the piston will travel a correspondingdistance within its chamber, thus making the stroke of rod 7 a shortstroke, while if the rod 5 makes its upward throw at a higher rate ofspeed said liquid will resist being hurried through the opening 1G andwill retard the movement of the piston in. its chamber, and the limit ofthe upward throw of said rod will have been reached before anyconsiderable movement of said piston in relation to the casing hastakerrplace, thus making the stroke of rod 7 a long one. It will also beobserved that the length of the stroke of upper section 5 of the rod isalways the same, it being attached to the crank 4 and moving with it,while the stroke of the lower section 7 is variable and will always beequal to the difference between the distance which piston 19 travels inthe casing and the total length of the stroke of upper section 5. For fexample, if the throw of rod 5 is twelve inches and it moves slowlywhile making its upward stroke the piston 19 will have moved upwardduring the same time in its chamber, say, eight inches, and the casingand pump-rod 7 have in consequence moved upward only four inches; but ifthe rod 5 moves upward at a higher rate of speed the piston 19, owing tothe resistance of the liquid to being hurried through a small opening,will make but a slight movement upward in its chamber, and the pump-rod7 will move nearly, if not quite, as far as rod 5.

It is well understood that a windmill will run at a higher rate of speedas the velocity of the wind increases, unless it be moved out of sail;but in making use of my invention it is not intended that the windmillshall be allowed to turn out of the wind as the velocity increases,unless the velocity should beso great as to place unsafe strain upon themill. When the velocity is low and the windmill runs slowly and operatesrod 5 at slow speed, the length of stroke of the pump-rod 7 will be atthe minimum, and as the speed of rod 5 increases, owing to higher windvelocity, the stroke of pump-rod 7 increases in length, thus increasingor diminishing the working load on the windmill proportionately to thepower to perform the work and with the result that more work is donethan if the windmill operated the pump at a fixed length of stroke. Thevalue of my invention as applied to a windmill consists in the fact thatit retards the speed of the mill by increasing the load, and thusrenders it possible to utilize high wind velocities which wouldotherwise not be available.

In setting forth my invention I have shown and described a windmill asthe motive power and a pump as the machine to be operated thereby by-means of a reciprocating rod; but

equally beneficial results might be obtained by the use of my inventionin a substantially similar manner for operating other machines orimplements, whether in connection with a windmill or other variablemotor. I therefore do not limit my invention to the special applicationof it shown and described.

While I have shown and described the piston 19 as mounted on thepower-section of the rod'and the casing attached to the working section7 of the same, the arrangement might, with nearly equal effectiveness,be reversed, the piston being on the working section and thepower-section 5 being attached to the casing. In such case, however, thecontracted passage 16 would be removed from the position shown andplaced between chamber 11 and passage 13 leading thereto, therequirement being that the obstacle to the movement of the liquid shallbe so located with reference to the piston as to retard to a greater orless extent the movement of the liquid, and consequently of the piston,when the latter is performing work, as described.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. Inreciprocating-rod mechanism for comlOO IIO

IZO

municating power from a prime mover to a machine to be operated, thecombination with the rod divided into two sections, a powersection and aworking section, of a strokeregulator interposed between said sectionsand attached to the working section, said regulator comprising a closedcasing containing three chambers adapted to hold liquid, one apiston-chamber, and two relief-chambers communicating respectively withopposite ends of said piston-chamber, and a piston within saidpiston-chamber mounted on the powersection of the rod, a contractedpassage being provided between said piston-chamber and therelief-chamber on the power side of the piston, substantially as setforth.

2. In reciprocating-rod mechanism for communicating power from a primemover to a machine to be operated, the combination with the rod dividedinto two sections, a powersection and a working section, of astrokeregulator interposed between said sections and attached to theworking section, said regulator comprising a closed casing containing apiston-chamber into which the power-section of the rod extends, a pistonmounted on said section within said chamber,.a reliefchamber connectedwith the end of the piston-chamber toward the source of power by acontracted passage-way,a second relief-chamber connected with the end ofthe piston-chamber toward the load by a free passage-way, a body ofliquid within said chambers, and means for movably sustaining the weightof said casing independently of said rod, substantially as set forth.

3. In reciprocating-rod mechanism for communicating power from a primemover to a machine to be operated, the combination with the rod dividedinto two sections, a powersection and a working section, of astrokeregulator interposed between said sections, said regulatorcomprising a closed casing attached to one of said sections, apiston-chamber and a body of liquid therein within said casing, a pistonworking in said piston-chamber and connected to the other section ofsaid rod, a relief chamberpor space upon both the power side and thework side of said pistonchamber and communicating therewith, the passage-way between said piston-chamber and one of said relief-chambers beingrestricted, for retarding the movement of the liquid out of the path ofsaid piston when pressure is applied thereby to said liquid intransmitting the power to the work, substantially as set forth.

4. In reciprocating-rod mechanism for communicating power from a primemover to a machine to be operated, the combination .with the rod dividedinto two sections, a powersection and a working section, of astrokeregulator interposed between said sections, said regulatorcomprising a closed casing attached to one of said sections, apiston-chamber and a body of liquid therein within said casing, a pistonworking in said ch'amber and mounted on the other section of said rod, a

relief chamber or space connected by a coni

